August 16, 2012 Measurement Bias in the Canadian Consumer Price Index: An Update Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2012 Patrick Sabourin The consumer price index (CPI) is the most commonly used measure to track changes in the overall level of prices. Since it departs from a true cost-of-living index, the CPI is subject to four types of measurement bias—commodity substitution, outlet substitution, new goods and quality adjustment. The author updates previous Bank of Canada estimates of measurement bias in the Canadian CPI by examining these four sources of potential bias. He finds the total measurement bias over the 2005–11 period to be about 0.5 percentage point per year, consistent with the Bank’s earlier findings. Slightly more than half of this bias is caused by the fixed nature of the CPI basket of goods and services. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Inflation and prices, Inflation targets JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31, E5, E52
August 16, 2012 Global Risk Premiums and the Transmission of Monetary Policy Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2012 Gregory Bauer, Antonio Diez de los Rios An important channel in the transmission of monetary policy is the relationship between the short-term policy rate and long-term interest rates. Using a new term-structure model, the authors show that the variation in long-term interest rates over time consists of two components: one representing investor expectations of future policy rates, and another reflecting a term-structure risk premium that compensates investors for holding a risky asset. The time variation in the term-structure risk premium is countercyclical and largely determined by global macroeconomic conditions. As a result, long-term rates are pushed up during recessions and down during times of expansion. This is an important phenomenon that central banks need to take into account when using short-term rates as a policy tool. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Asset pricing, Financial markets, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E4, E43, F, F3, F31, G, G1, G12, G15
Inflation and Growth: A New Keynesian Perspective Staff Working Paper 2012-23 Robert Amano, Thomas J. Carter, Kevin Moran The long-run relation between growth and inflation has not yet been studied in the context of nominal price and wage rigidities, despite the fact that these rigidities now figure prominently in workhorse macroeconomic models. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Inflation: costs and benefits JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31, E5, E52, O, O3, O31, O4, O42
Unconventional Monetary Policy and the Great Recession: Estimating the Macroeconomic Effects of a Spread Compression at the Zero Lower Bound Staff Working Paper 2012-21 Christiane Baumeister, Luca Benati We explore the macroeconomic effects of a compression in the long-term bond yield spread within the context of the Great Recession of 2007-2009 via a time-varying parameter structural VAR model. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Interest rates, Monetary policy framework, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): C, C1, C11, C3, C32, E, E5, E52, E58
The Sensitivity of Producer Prices to Exchange Rates: Insights from Micro Data Staff Working Paper 2012-20 Shutao Cao, Wei Dong, Ben Tomlin This paper studies the sensitivity of Canadian producer prices to the Canada-U.S. exchange rate. Using a unique product-level price data set, we estimate and analyze the impact of movements in the exchange rate on both domestic and export producer prices. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Exchange rates, Inflation and prices, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): E, E3, E30, F, F3, F31, F4, F41, L, L1, L11
International Business Cycles and Financial Frictions Staff Working Paper 2012-19 Wen Yao This paper builds a two-country DSGE model to study the quantitative impact of financial frictions on business cycle co-movements when investors have foreign asset exposure. The investor in each country holds capital in both countries and faces a leverage constraint on her debt. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, International financial markets, International topics JEL Code(s): E, E3, E30, F, F4, F42, F44
Commodities and Monetary Policy: Implications for Inflation and Price Level Targeting Staff Working Paper 2012-16 Donald Coletti, René Lalonde, Paul Masson, Dirk Muir, Stephen Snudden We examine the relative ability of simple inflation targeting (IT) and price level targeting (PLT) monetary policy rules to minimize both inflation variability and business cycle fluctuations in Canada for shocks that have important consequences for global commodity prices. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models, Inflation and prices, International topics, Monetary policy framework JEL Code(s): E, E1, E17, E3, E31, E37, E5, E52, F, F4, F41, Q, Q4, Q43
Estimating the Demand for Settlement Balances in the Canadian Large Value Transfer System Staff Working Paper 2012-15 Nellie Zhang This paper applies a static model of an interest rate corridor to the Canadian data, and estimates the aggregate demand for central-bank settlement balances in the Large Value Transfer System (LVTS). Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Interest rates, Monetary policy implementation, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): C, C3, C36, E, E4, E40, E5, E50, G, G0, G01
May 17, 2012 Inflation Targeting: The Recent International Experience Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2012 Robert Lavigne, Rhys R. Mendes, Subrata Sarker In the years since the 2006 renewal of Canada’s inflation-control agreement, monetary policy regimes have faced significant shocks, including the global economic and financial crisis. This article reviews the recent experience with inflation targeting, including the debate about the appropriate role of monetary policy in maintaining financial stability. In the aftermath of the crisis, both […] Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Credibility, Financial stability, Inflation targets, Monetary policy framework JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31, E5, E52, E58
May 17, 2012 Understanding Systemic Risk in the Banking Sector: A MacroFinancial Risk Assessment Framework Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2012 Céline Gauthier, Moez Souissi The MacroFinancial Risk Assessment Framework (MFRAF) models the interconnections between liquidity and solvency in a financial system, with multiple institutions linked through an interbank network. The MFRAF integrates funding liquidity risk as an endogenous outcome of the interactions between solvency risk and the liquidity profiles of banks, which is a complementary approach to the new […] Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies JEL Code(s): E, E4, E44, G, G0, G01, G2, G21